180

            Yesterday, I pointed out that Jesus did not condemn the sinful but I think it is important to point out that he did say, “Go, and sin no more.” It is pretty easy to overlook that caveat; after all, we know that he will forgive us. The word ‘repent’ is translated to turn from, when we repent our sin we should turn from it, important, yes. The part we forget is that when we do turn from sin, we turn to God.  He doesn’t just expect us to do it on our own.

            The challenge can be that we are turning from something tangible, like drugs, pornography, gluttony and so on, to something spiritual. We cannot physically grasp something to pull ourselves from sin. We have to walk away from it with trust and faith that God will provide.

            1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”  I believe a key to this verse is that we must look for the way out, I know I frequently forget that I must do my part, I must try. I must flex my faith to strengthen it. They may mean using a bit of willpower before you see the way out. It might be a phone call from a friend to stop you from a foolish move or a simple interruption of another sort to break your stride into sin. Be alert for these events and you will see that God is there for you and he will pull you through and closer to him.

            Another point I’d like to make is for the mathematically challenged (like myself) our turn away from sin should be a 180 degree turn not a 360 degree. The 360 will bring us right back to the sin we started from. It is important to point this out because we do it frequently. A 180 is realizing that you are going the wrong direction and making a U-turn to correct yourself.